Douglas L. " Doug" Christian

My practice emphasizes insurance law as well as bad faith, personal injury and commercial litigation. Born and raised in Phoenix, I have a deep connection to Arizona's people, businesses and lifestyle. It is home. I also maintain an active practice with friends and colleagues in Las Vegas through our Nevada affiliate; Christian, Kravitz, Dichter, Johnson & Sluga, P.L.L.C.. For me, after 37 years of lawyering, the practice of law remains more a profession than a business. I do the best I can each day to fix a problem, advocate for a client who needs help or give common-sense advice to someone in need of guidance. A day's work for a day's pay.

I began my career in the 1970's with a steady diet of personal injury and insurance litigation, trying cases to Arizona juries from Tucson to Flagstaff. Those experiences shaped my understanding of how our court system, lawyers, and litigants are perceived by the people of Arizona. The message I heard loud and clear is that our work is not about winning squabbles with opposing counsel, not about relentless and expensive pretrial battles, not about chest-thumping, not about talking to hear ourselves talk. It is about listening. It is about thinking toward solutions. It is about efficiently and professionally providing straight-forward, no-nonsense, look-em-in-the-eye advice and advocacy. It's not about us, it's about our clients.

I began working with my friend and partner, Steve Dichter in 1980. The cases got bigger and the stakes higher but the fundamental lessons learned in the courtrooms around Arizona continued to set our course. It was essential to reduce increasingly complex legal problems to their fundamental components. You can't fix a problem, or obtain a fair verdict on it, if you don't understand what caused the problem in the first place. Listen, think, understand, synthesize. Get it right the first time.

Steve and I share a professional philosophy that allowed us to reconnect and form our small Phoenix firm in 2005 after parting ways to work at large firms. Together with our partner Gena Sluga, we have assembled a group of bright, capable lawyers who share our philosophy. We all work together, every day, with a single goal in mind...do honest work, do it well and charge a fair price. Today, the complexity of our work continues to challenge us. Our insurance coverage practice, commercial litigation and personal injury cases allow us to share with our clients both the challenges and the rewards of high-stakes litigation. Along with national and regional clients, we continue to work with the small businesses and individuals who are vital to the growth of a vibrant local economy and help keep us connected with this place I have always called home.